Despicable thieves have broken into a man's van while he was at Hillingdon Hospital visiting his terminally ill mother.

Builder Barry Edmonson rushed to Hillingdon Hospital on Saturday night after staff called to say his poorly mother had taken a turn for the worst.

After sitting by her bedside all evening, Mr Edmonson returned to the car park off Pield Heath Road to find his van had been broken into and his tools stolen.

“I’m just disgusted with it, targeting a hospital car park like that,” he said. “Anyone visiting a hospital has enough on thier plate already.”

He immediately called the police and contacted hospital security, only to discover that the CCTV was not good enough to identify the culprits.

Mr Edmunson added: "There’s CCTV but the quality is so bad you can’t even tell their wat they’re driving never mind see the number plate,” he said. What’s the point of having CCTV if you can’t even see anything?"

The thieves are thought to have driven through the car park barrier obtaining a ticket, which is free for the first ten minutes and then swiftly after breaking into the van.

A spokesman for Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “As a busy acute hospital we take the security of our staff, patients and visitors extremely seriously and during 2013 we have only had one other reported break in to a vehicle on the site. We have 70 CCTV cameras covering the main areas around Hillingdon Hospital.

“However, because the site is so large there will be some areas where CCTV coverage is not as good as in others particularly at night time.”

The police say they are trying to enhance the footage to help decipher out a number plate.

Mr Edmunson's mother, who comes from Cowley, remains in hospital in a critical condition.